Peeping through my Venetian blind, my eyes dwelt upon the bush near my doorway – Kiss-Me-at-the-Gate. It’s blooming in all its glory nowadays.

Cousin Jo of Lexington, South Carolina, knows it as “breath of spring.”

She sent me the other day a list of other names by which the bush goes – winter honeysuckle, fragrant honeysuckle, January jasmine, Chinese honeysuckle, and sweet breath of spring. Obviously, the bush is a type of honeysuckle.

The plant is known as a harbinger of spring.

Suddenly I heard a knock at my door. I had been concentrating on the plant so much that I didn’t even notice Miss Cora Covington, coming up my walk.

She had come across from Covington Hall with a basket, tucked in with a checkered cloth, under which, I discovered, were valentine cupcakes, each made by the red-velvet-cake recipe.

Setting my teacart for tea and cupcakes, I invited my neighbor to refreshments – her own, mainly.

Then we sat back to enjoy some talk.

Seen at the Surly Mermaid on the Golden Square were Jill Sharpe, Robert Howell, and Amy (Keenam) Mott. I hadn’t seen Amy in a month of Sundays. Now, every time I turn around, there she is. This time made the third time in a week that our trails have crossed.

Seen at the Friday-night seafood buffet at Tabby D’s were the following: Robert Lee Holley, his cousin, Bill Bass, Elmo and Hazel Lewis, Cecil and Marzell Parrish, and James and Mildred Parrish of Opp (Cecil and James are brothers).

Irene (Davis) Butler entertained her nephew, Gary Butler, with a family luncheon in her home.

Gary and his wife Debbie hail from Demopolis, where he is a forester and owns a 300-acre hunting club.

Family members present included Mitzi Gail Butler (Irene’s niece), Rhett and Lynn Butler (Irene’s older son and his wife), Dustin Butler, Ashley Butler, and Dr. Rex A. Butler (Irene’s younger son, a medical doctor).

Gary and Debbie, by the way, were spreading the news that their first grandbaby had been born January 14, which just happens to be Irene’s birthday, too.

For the grand visit Irene emptied her culinary cornucopia with the following: Boston butt, meatloaf (Ann Chapman’s recipe), chicken ‘n’ dumplings, mashed potatoes, collards, black-eyed peas, turnips, pineapple side dish, sweet-potato casserole, corn on the cob, fried cornbread, carrot-and-raisin salad, chicken salad, and Italian cream cake.

The celebration of the War of 1812 (1812 – 1815) continues.

Again, I ask the citizens of Andalusia to join the Covington Historical Society and pay its annual dues of $25 to help preserve the history of our county, whether you attend meetings or not. Mail to CHS, P.O., Box 1582, Andalusia, Alabama 36420.

If you collect stamps, now is the time to buy those commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the War Between the States and the War of 1812.

To commemorate the Sesquicentennial of the War Between the States, let us return to this week 150 years ago.

Northern General Sherman’s federal troops sought revenge on South Carolina because of its lead in the secessionist movement, by destroying both military and civilian property as they invaded South Carolina. The Federals were particularly destructive in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina and the main object of the Northern invasion of the state.

President Lincoln met with three Confederate commissioners at Hampton Roads, Virginia, to discuss peace; but the sides could not agree upon a plan.

Later, Lincoln presented a plan to pay $400,000,000 to slave states in exchange for the South’s laying down their arms by April 1. His cabinet opposed his idea.

The mysterian is a place – the Little Building. What was it?

Recent birthdays are those of Victor Herbert, an American composer, whose music includes the most gorgeous song ever written, “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life”; Sidney Lanier, the Georgia poet who wrote “The Marshes of Glynn” and “The Song of the Chattahoochee”; Felix Mendelssohn, a German composer; A. J. Ryan, a Southern, Catholic poet who wrote about the Confederacy (he’s buried in Mobile, Alabama); Christopher Marlowe, an English playwright, who penned The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, containing the following famous lines, “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium (Troy)? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss”; Charles Dickens, the English novelist, perhaps the best novelist ever; and Thomas More, the Englishman who gave up his life rather than obey King Henry VIII and thus go against his own beliefs.

The Confederate States of America was born February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama.

Now, gentle reader, allow me to join Buffalo Bob Smith in encouraging each of us to be in his place of worship this weekend, Lord willing.

Fare thee well.